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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Utah State is set to agree to a deal to become the seventh member of the newly formed Pac-12, sources told ESPN.
The move comes amid a dizzying day of realignment, which saw the Pac-12’s interest in a handful of AAC schools get rebuffed and the Mountain West expected to retain commitments from key members UNLV and Air Force.
The offer to Utah State and the expected acceptance in the near future means that they’d be the fifth school from the Mountain West to join Oregon State and Washington State in the newly formatted Pac-12. They join Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Colorado State, who have announced they are going to the league.
Utah State is a solid football program, which won a Mountain West championship in 2021. Utah State has reached 11 bowl games since 2011 and has 16 bowl appearances in its history. They’ve been in the Mountain West since 2013.
Utah State is an accomplished basketball school, as it has 24 NCAA men’s tournament appearances in its history. That includes appearances in four of the past five seasons NCAA tournaments. (Those four are over six years, and they were 26-8 in 2020 when the pandemic cancelled the tournament.)
The offer to Utah State came amid a hectic day that say the Pac-12 attempting to secure its future. Utah State emerged late in the day as a candidate.
The departure from the Mountain West leaves that league with seven schools, which means they’ll need to make one addition to remain an official conference.
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